[PugetSoundSoldier]

Please see Papal bulls "Quantum praedecessores" from 1145, "Post Miserabile" from 1185, "Audita tremendi" from 1187, and "Quia maior" from 1213.

Each called for a Crusade (the second, in general, the third, and the fifth crusade). Each was a Papal bull - a decree from the Pope.

To deny that Popes called for some of the Crusades is, in fact, to deny the history of the Catholic Church and deny the authority of the Pope (both personhood and position) who issued those same bulls.

[Petronski]

I’m quite glad those Popes called the Crusades.

Where is the indication they FUNDED them?

[Cronos]

Blogger said: The Popes proclaimed the crusades and funded the crusades. They sold indulgences promising eternal life for those who bought them. To declare otherwise is simply dishonest.

Did the Popes fund the crusades? NO. That's so wrong it's funny -- the nobility sponsored them and in the case of the 4th, the merchants of Venice sponsored it (for ulterior motives)

Did the indulgences get sold? Or were the indulgences "go save Christians in the MIddle East and God will smile on you..."? The facts bear out that it was the latter.